Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

04 August 2017

Boat People are the Heirs of White Settlers

The Australian Government’s advertisement, discouraging Sri Lankans from setting foot on Australian soil, through pathways outside the official process caught my attention as our train from Colombo got closer and closer to Jaffna.  I do not know whether they were on the walls of stations close to Colombo. But the ads did not feel ‘right’. The law and its custodians do not always lead us to Truth. They help us travel together. As a society, if majority Sri Lankans do not consciously follow the Common law,  then the lawful pathway may need to be set aside for personal peace of mind. Where that happens to successfully lead one to Truth – that person becomes an Equal facility as the Government in relation to that issue. Hence the role of NGOs in conflict-ridden parts of the world.

As per news reports under the heading ‘Donald Trump told Malcolm Turnbull ‘you are worse than I am’ in January phone call’, our Australian Prime Minister said to the American President:

[TURNBULL: Absolutely. We have, as you know, taken a very strong line on national security and border protection here and when I was speaking with Jared Kushner just the other day and one of your immigration advisers in the White House we reflected on how our policies have helped to inform your approach. We are very much of the same mind. It is very interesting to know how you prioritise the minorities in your Executive Order. This is exactly what we have done with the program to bring in 12,000 Syrian refugees, 90% of which will be Christians. It will be quite deliberate and the position I have taken — I have been very open about it — is that it is a tragic fact of life that when the situation in the Middle East settles down — the people that are going to be most unlikely to have a continuing home are those Christian minorities. We have seen that in Iraq and so from our point of view, as a final destination for refugees, that is why we prioritise. It is not a sectarian thing. It is recognition of the practical political realities. We have a similar perspective in that respect.]

Well, on factual basis Buddhism Foremost is part of the Constitution of Sri Lanka. All minorities in terms of religion, including Muslims  are adversely affected by this Article in the Sri Lankan Constitution the influence of which is often seen in practice.  Effectively therefore – Mr. Turnbull is claiming to practice Religion based discrimination which to my mind is in breach of  Australia’s  Racial Discrimination Act 1975.  

Recently, my attention was drawn to the Island article : ‘50 years on: LGB&T equality brings success’, by James Dauris – the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, in which the High Commissioner states:

[Today we take pride in the UK’s commitment to non-discrimination on any grounds, including sexual orientation and gender identity. We talk openly about our commitment to promoting and protecting rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) people, recognizing not only that they deserve to be accorded the same dignity, respect and rights as other citizens, but that it’s in all of our interests that this is so.]

With the Queen as our Monarch, the UK is the Big Brother of Australia. Britain seems to be blind to the repeated failures by Australia to uphold the principles on which Racial Discrimination Act 1975 is based. As a victim of the government’s negligence of its duty to this Law, I noted the following in response to the above claim by the British High Commissioner:

[A law could cause unjust discrimination problem or it could cure one. Where a law is used to show one’s cleverness and/or higher authority, it often leads to unjust discrimination. Gay marriages becoming lawful have the potential for  Equal status being taken where, as per the Truth – the individual has benefited from the sacrifices made by her/his parents in man-woman marriages. It’s a greater challenge to know the feelings of those of another culture. Gender is also a reason why there are cultural differences at the surface level. Physical differences  are the source of attraction as well as unjust discrimination.

The example of this in terms of immigration is the Equal Opportunity Laws which actually require seniors at a place, to forego their seniority and treat new arrivals as Equals. If Sinhalese were first in Southern Sri Lanka and Tamils in Northern Sri Lanka, democracy requires them to treat the other side as Equals instead of their ‘juniors’. The reason is the unknown credits and debits of the new arrivals which could lead to damaging their self-respect and therefore of the whole.  Tamils of Northern Sri Lanka who sought separation would have difficulty adjusting to the laws of Democracy in their new Western Nations where Equality is actively promoted by Governments. One could not be Equal and Senior at the same time within a global context. Hence most continue to live as Sri Lankans, Tamils or Sinhalese when it comes to Governance issues. It’s living in the past and that is ok – so long as we do not enforce it on others in our current environments.

Gay partnerships continue to be in the minority and hence  carry the risk of unjust discrimination. The laws of Nature do not discriminate between minority-majority, man-woman, senior-junior. If one is Naturally gay – it is her/his right to be so. But when those rights are indiscriminately mixed with the protocols of  man-woman marriage groups – there are risks of unjust discrimination by those who are used to taking senior positions in the traditional family structures without having earned  those senior positions and just discrimination by those who have earned those higher positions through personal sacrifice to enjoy unregulated natural pleasures.

In the above example, the laws of Equality when applied at the surface level are likely to not have Truth as the basis. Seniors often have to use the law even when their personal Truth says otherwise. Mr. Turnbull failed that test of leadership.

On the basis of Australians as a whole – our pathways is different to that of Britain. Our early settlers who are our elders in immigration did arrive by Boat. No law has the right to deny that to the heirs of those early settlers of Australia. Many of them were outlawed by the British system. Mr. Turnbull has spoken as one of those Seniors in authority instead of those who made a home in Australia, from a negative reputation at the beginning. LTTE may be Terrorists to majority Sinhalese even though the JVP (Sinhalese militants) also chose the same pathway. As per the laws of nature – relativity above the line of Common Belief needs to be transparent on merit basis applied on level playing field. But within Common Belief – it needs to be confidential – as if one part is helping the other before publishing the final outcome of the whole.

As per published news :

[The Washington Post obtained the transcript of the January 28 call between Mr Turnbull and Mr Trump days after the US President’s inauguration.

The transcript of the call is based on records kept by White House note-takers monitoring the President’s phone calls called a “memorandum of conversation.”

The newspaper said the classified transcript had been reviewed and classified Trump’s National Security Council chief of staff, retired Lt. General Keith Kellogg Jr.

It said these transcripts were commonly circulated to White House staff and senior policymakers.]

The fact that the material has not been kept confidential confirms that Americans have paid lip service to Transparency or that Australia was not part of their inner circle bound by Common Belief.  That Truth now comes out. 

By failing to honour our Australian ancestors who arrived by Boat – Mr. Turnbull has confirmed lack of depth in his own commitment to the whole of Australia – beyond time barriers. He sounds more British than Australian – including through his show of commitment to Christianity.  A true Australian would value Boat arrivals as the heirs of early settlers and leave them to face the challenges with least help from the Government. Boat arrivals are more likely to set up home quickly in Australia – due to the problems faced. Those problems could include possible rejection as per global laws – but Australian leaders do not have the authority to anticipate negative contribution from such arrivals at a higher rate than immigrants through other channels who may have not endured enough difficulties to come past the economic barrier. In this instance the businessman in Mr. Turnbull seems to have suppressed the humanitarian leader needed by Australia, in terms of refugees. Our ancestors would invoke the right kind of powers to support 'outcasts' to become good and progressive citizens.